I've read on an aviation forum that Heathrow T4 is to be closed and just
used for aircraft parking during the Covid-19 crisis, and T3 may also close
temporarily. All BA's T3 flights will be moved to T5, and other aidlines'
flights will move to T2.

In message , at 22:42:33 on Tue, 17 Mar
2020, Recliner remarked:
I've read on an aviation forum that Heathrow T4 is to be closed and just
used for aircraft parking during the Covid-19 crisis, and T3 may also close
temporarily. All BA's T3 flights will be moved to T5, and other aidlines'
flights will move to T2.

If there are fewer flights then it makes sense to concentrate them on a
smaller number of terminals. And at Gatwick close the North terminal if
there's sufficient capacity at the South terminal for all the aircraft
movements.
--
Roland Perry

Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 22:42:33 on Tue, 17 Mar
2020, Recliner remarked:
I've read on an aviation forum that Heathrow T4 is to be closed and just
used for aircraft parking during the Covid-19 crisis, and T3 may also close
temporarily. All BA's T3 flights will be moved to T5, and other aidlines'
flights will move to T2.

If there are fewer flights then it makes sense to concentrate them on a
smaller number of terminals. And at Gatwick close the North terminal if
there's sufficient capacity at the South terminal for all the aircraft
movements.

I think Gatwick currently intends to keep both terminals open, but to close
the satellite piers in each terminal. However, if things get worse, they
may indeed consolidate into just the South terminal, thus allowing the
Shuttle to be suspended.

I imagine that, even in the functioning terminals, many of the airside
shops will close while there are so few pax to sell to.

Of course, at the moment there are unpublicised repatriation flights going
on (eg, two Turkish 77Ws flew into Heathrow to repatriate Turkish citizens,
and BA has been flying cruise passengers home from Havana on three special
flights).

On Wed, 18 Mar 2020 09:23:19 -0000 (UTC)
Recliner wrote:
Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 22:42:33 on Tue, 17 Mar
2020, Recliner remarked:
I've read on an aviation forum that Heathrow T4 is to be closed and just
used for aircraft parking during the Covid-19 crisis, and T3 may also close
temporarily. All BA's T3 flights will be moved to T5, and other aidlines'
flights will move to T2.

If there are fewer flights then it makes sense to concentrate them on a
smaller number of terminals. And at Gatwick close the North terminal if
there's sufficient capacity at the South terminal for all the aircraft
movements.

I think Gatwick currently intends to keep both terminals open, but to close
the satellite piers in each terminal. However, if things get worse, they
may indeed consolidate into just the South terminal, thus allowing the
Shuttle to be suspended.

I imagine that, even in the functioning terminals, many of the airside
shops will close while there are so few pax to sell to.

Of course, at the moment there are unpublicised repatriation flights going
on (eg, two Turkish 77Ws flew into Heathrow to repatriate Turkish citizens,
and BA has been flying cruise passengers home from Havana on three special
flights).

There must be a lot of repatriation flights because on flightradar24 there
seem to be just as many flights across europe and the atlantic as ever and
plenty of aircraft around heathrow and gatwick.

Apparently the rule about losing slots if not used has been suspended so they
can't simply be empty planes.

wrote:
On Wed, 18 Mar 2020 09:23:19 -0000 (UTC)
Recliner wrote:
Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 22:42:33 on Tue, 17 Mar
2020, Recliner remarked:
I've read on an aviation forum that Heathrow T4 is to be closed and just
used for aircraft parking during the Covid-19 crisis, and T3 may also close
temporarily. All BA's T3 flights will be moved to T5, and other aidlines'
flights will move to T2.

If there are fewer flights then it makes sense to concentrate them on a
smaller number of terminals. And at Gatwick close the North terminal if
there's sufficient capacity at the South terminal for all the aircraft
movements.

I think Gatwick currently intends to keep both terminals open, but to close
the satellite piers in each terminal. However, if things get worse, they
may indeed consolidate into just the South terminal, thus allowing the
Shuttle to be suspended.

I imagine that, even in the functioning terminals, many of the airside
shops will close while there are so few pax to sell to.

Of course, at the moment there are unpublicised repatriation flights going
on (eg, two Turkish 77Ws flew into Heathrow to repatriate Turkish citizens,
and BA has been flying cruise passengers home from Havana on three special
flights).

There must be a lot of repatriation flights because on flightradar24 there
seem to be just as many flights across europe and the atlantic as ever and
plenty of aircraft around heathrow and gatwick.

Yes, see
https://www.heathrow.com/departures
https://www.airport-gatwick.com/london-lgw-departures

[Of course, the many code-shares exaggerate the number of flights, both
those operating and the cancelled ones. ]


Apparently the rule about losing slots if not used has been suspended so they
can't simply be empty planes.

I'm not sure if that's come into effect yet.

In message , at 09:51:02 on Wed, 18 Mar
2020, Recliner remarked:
There must be a lot of repatriation flights because on flightradar24 there
seem to be just as many flights across europe and the atlantic as ever and
plenty of aircraft around heathrow and gatwick.

Yes, see
https://www.heathrow.com/departures
https://www.airport-gatwick.com/london-lgw-departures

[Of course, the many code-shares exaggerate the number of flights, both
those operating and the cancelled ones. ]

As I'm sure you'd said in the past, the flightshares can be easily
ignored, simply by eyeballing flights at the same time, to the same
destination.

The 12:05 to Philadelphia is a doozy.

I suspect, however, that these cancellations are last minute ones,
rather than compared to the timetable they were expecting to be running
a month ago.
--
Roland Perry

On Wed, 18 Mar 2020 11:14:21 +0000, Roland Perry
wrote:

In message , at 09:51:02 on Wed, 18 Mar
2020, Recliner remarked:
There must be a lot of repatriation flights because on flightradar24 there
seem to be just as many flights across europe and the atlantic as ever and
plenty of aircraft around heathrow and gatwick.

Yes, see
https://www.heathrow.com/departures
https://www.airport-gatwick.com/london-lgw-departures

[Of course, the many code-shares exaggerate the number of flights, both
those operating and the cancelled ones. ]

As I'm sure you'd said in the past, the flightshares can be easily
ignored, simply by eyeballing flights at the same time, to the same
destination.

The 12:05 to Philadelphia is a doozy.

It was a reminder to anyone just tempted to skim down the list.


I suspect, however, that these cancellations are last minute ones,
rather than compared to the timetable they were expecting to be running
a month ago.

No, I don't think so. The published timetable would still be in place
for the moment, but with increasing numbers of cancellations. A new,
much reduced timetable might come in from next week (they'd still need
to negotiate slots, gates, etc).

In message , at 11:43:06 on
Wed, 18 Mar 2020, Recliner remarked:
On Wed, 18 Mar 2020 11:14:21 +0000, Roland Perry
wrote:

In message , at 09:51:02 on Wed, 18 Mar
2020, Recliner remarked:
There must be a lot of repatriation flights because on flightradar24 there
seem to be just as many flights across europe and the atlantic as ever and
plenty of aircraft around heathrow and gatwick.

Yes, see
https://www.heathrow.com/departures
https://www.airport-gatwick.com/london-lgw-departures

[Of course, the many code-shares exaggerate the number of flights, both
those operating and the cancelled ones. ]

As I'm sure you'd said in the past, the flightshares can be easily
ignored, simply by eyeballing flights at the same time, to the same
destination.

The 12:05 to Philadelphia is a doozy.

It was a reminder to anyone just tempted to skim down the list.


I suspect, however, that these cancellations are last minute ones,
rather than compared to the timetable they were expecting to be running
a month ago.

No, I don't think so. The published timetable would still be in place
for the moment, but with increasing numbers of cancellations.

The (relatively few) number of flights showing contradicts that.

A new, much reduced timetable might come in from next week (they'd
still need to negotiate slots, gates, etc).

Cancellations of flights to hotspots like China, Iran, Spain and Italy
happened long ago.
--
Roland Perry

On Wed, 18 Mar 2020 12:56:53 +0000, Roland Perry
wrote:

In message , at 11:43:06 on
Wed, 18 Mar 2020, Recliner remarked:
On Wed, 18 Mar 2020 11:14:21 +0000, Roland Perry
wrote:

In message , at 09:51:02 on Wed, 18 Mar
2020, Recliner remarked:
There must be a lot of repatriation flights because on flightradar24 there
seem to be just as many flights across europe and the atlantic as ever and
plenty of aircraft around heathrow and gatwick.

Yes, see
https://www.heathrow.com/departures
https://www.airport-gatwick.com/london-lgw-departures

[Of course, the many code-shares exaggerate the number of flights, both
those operating and the cancelled ones. ]

As I'm sure you'd said in the past, the flightshares can be easily
ignored, simply by eyeballing flights at the same time, to the same
destination.

The 12:05 to Philadelphia is a doozy.

It was a reminder to anyone just tempted to skim down the list.


I suspect, however, that these cancellations are last minute ones,
rather than compared to the timetable they were expecting to be running
a month ago.

No, I don't think so. The published timetable would still be in place
for the moment, but with increasing numbers of cancellations.

The (relatively few) number of flights showing contradicts that.

A new, much reduced timetable might come in from next week (they'd
still need to negotiate slots, gates, etc).

Cancellations of flights to hotspots like China, Iran, Spain and Italy
happened long ago.

Yes, probably.

On Wed, 18 Mar 2020 11:14:21 +0000
Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 09:51:02 on Wed, 18 Mar
2020, Recliner remarked:
There must be a lot of repatriation flights because on flightradar24 there
seem to be just as many flights across europe and the atlantic as ever and
plenty of aircraft around heathrow and gatwick.

Yes, see
https://www.heathrow.com/departures
https://www.airport-gatwick.com/london-lgw-departures

[Of course, the many code-shares exaggerate the number of flights, both
those operating and the cancelled ones. ]

As I'm sure you'd said in the past, the flightshares can be easily
ignored, simply by eyeballing flights at the same time, to the same
destination.

The 12:05 to Philadelphia is a doozy.

Wtf is a doozy?